For me literature is magic, and magic is part of the original literary tradition, whether it be mythology, folk tales, fairy tales, ghost stories, the stories of Kafka or Washington Irving—all of it can be found in the greatest literature. I think of “realism” asbeing “imposed” on fiction—after all, this is not real life, it is art, and art consists of imagination and experience—the recipe for magic. “Magical realism” is a new term for an ancient tradition.
